North Shore Living is a resource for information about the North Shore towns of Hamilton and Wenham Massachusetts, tips for selling or buying a home and other real estate related topics, occasionally some political points of view, and more. Welcome!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how annoying it can be to receive outrageous, ridiculous, and sometimes downright mean and false comments from individuals that hide their identities behind their diatribe by posting as "Anonymous" or using a fake name.

It appears I am not alone in my distaste for these nameless commentors.

The cover story in this week's Boston Globe Magazine, written by Neil Swidey, is about the very same issue. It's titled "Unmasking The Anonymous Online Loudmouth" (I wish I had thought of that) and it reaches just about the same conclusions that I did in my blog titled "Anonymity Cause For Animosity" [Click Here].

I recommend reading Neil's article [Click Here] and seeing why anonymous commentors that write shameless replies have given rise to a new Internet term, or "handle". They are now known as TROLLS...slang for people behind inflammatory posts.

From the article:

"The pros of hostng a robust, free-wheeling conversationhad become outweighed by the cons of all the venon andnastiness,by people who are allowed to name-call withoutany obligation to reveal their own names."

"After years of letting anonymity rule online, many mediaheavyweights...have begun to modify their policies. Thegoal is to take the playground back from the anonymousbullies and give greater weight to those willing to offer,in addition to strong views, their real names."

"...that freedom can be abused and manipulated to spreadlies or mask hidden agendas. With all that in the balance, thethinking goes, shouldn't we know who's saying these things?"